Melbourne Victory skipper Carl Valeri is confident a lack of midfield depth won't haunt the A-League title hopefuls during the finals series.
An assessment of Victory's squad leading into Sunday's crunch semifinal with Brisbane Roar suggests there's no room for injury or illness among the club's midfielders.
A defensive trio of Alan Baro, Nick Ansell and James Donachie have shared centre-back duties all season, with Leigh Broxham providing support for first-choice full backs Jason Geria and Daniel Georgievski.
Besart Berisha is the club's undroppable No. 9, with support on the flanks from Marco Rojas, Fahid Ben Khalfallah and back-up wingers Mitch Austin and Jai Ingham.
That leaves James Troisi, Valeri and Broxham as the club's first-choice central three, given the departure of marquee Oliver Bozanic. Bozanic's exit means there's little margin for error for all three.
Troisi, Victory's creative fulcrum, is in such rare form he's not easily replaced but Ben Khalfallah would be asked to do so.
Should Valeri be absent or Broxham be called into defensive duties -- where's he's spent most of the season -- it will be up to Rashid Mahazi or Stefan Nigro to fill the breach.
Mahazi, 25, has been starved for A-League minutes this season, while Nigro, 20, is still learning his craft.
Mahazi has just five starts for the campaign -- and just two wins -- while Nigro has been named in Victory's 11 twice for two losses. Valeri believes both can be relied upon to help deliver Victory a title.
"I've always been pleased with Victory's amount of depth," said Valeri. "Especially in midfield, we've got players ready to stand up.
"Rashid has recently come in for the first time in a while and stood up. His work rate is amazing.
"And Broxy is probably one of the most underrated players in the A-League.
#INSERT type:image caption: Carl Valeri is confident that Melbourne Victory can overcome any injury or illness in the club's midfield. END#
"He covers so many roles and does an awesome job and doesn't get enough credit for it.
"Losing Ollie wasn't ideal but these things happen in football. We're professionals and we get on with it."
In addition to Bozanic, Victory lost ill-fitting German Max Beister in February, meaning Kevin Muscat's side are one of just three sides not to have filled their five international player slots.
In any case, Valeri believes Victory's front four can fire the second-place finishers to their fourth A-League championship.
"They're as good as anyone," he said.
"I love having Marco, Bes, Jimmy and Fahid in my corner. It's fantastic to look up when you get the ball in midfield and see them as options."